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Saturday, August 24, 2024

Announcing the TMAT THRO Tournament 2024!

Good morning gamers,


It's that time of year - The Hunter's Red October will be hitting the TMAT community again (but in December this time, not in October). The tournament will be held in Berryville, VA on December 14, 2024. We're trying our hand at a doubles tournament this year - bring a buddy for the first round, but then be ready to rotate partners as the tournament progresses! Without further ado, here are (in my typical style) the Ten Commandments of the Tournament (Rules):

1) Thou Shalt Understand The Canon

Regardless of whether we have a new edition by mid-December (it appears likely), the ruleset we will be using is from the updated Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game Rules Manual (the Sauron one). The Armies of the Lord of the Rings supplement will govern the rules for armies from the Lord of the Rings, while the Armies of the Hobbit supplement will govern the rules for armies from the Hobbit. Legendary Legions and profiles from any of the GW supplements released between Gondor at War and Rise of Angmar (inclusive) may be used, provided that the army building requirements for the Legendary Legion are followed. Any GW errata for these books will take precedent over the printed text of these documents.

2) Thou Shalt Honor Thy Alliance

This tournament follows the alliance "restrictions" provided in the Armies of the Lord of the Rings and Armies of the Hobbit supplements - players are allowed to have "pure" armies or Legendary Legions (no alliances). Unlike the stated rules for doubles events in the Matched Play Guide, the players who arrive as a team for the first round may not take the same Legendary Legion (as we will be rotating partners).

3) Thou Shalt Not Bring Too Many Points

All players will create one army list that is no more than 400 points. Unless the list is from a Legendary Legion that doesn't have a Hero of Valour/Legend, all lists must include at least one Hero of Valour or Hero of Legend. Regardless of what the alliance matrix would normally be (including Good armies allied with Evil armies), each army and Legendary Legion will retain their faction/legion bonuses. The list must be submitted to the Tournament Director at joshua.kamakawiwoole@gmail.com by December 7, 2024. Players will be notified of the other armies that have been submitted for the tournament after they have submitted their list.

In the event of having a number of players that is not divisible by four, players may submit a second list as an alternate list that they are willing to run with their first list, as if that was their partner's list. As was mentioned above, a player may not submit a second list from the same Legendary Legion - and unlike the normal army building rules, the player's second list may not include any named heroes that are included in their first list (this is commonly referred to as "the rule of one").

Note on proxy/converted models: proxy models will be automatically accepted if the intended model is not available from the GW webstore. Other proxy models will be accepted if they 1) have the same equipment (weapons, armor, gear) as the model it's proxying, and 2) are clearly distinct from other models in the list. Please note any models that are being proxied in the email to the Tournament Director. Converted models should have the same gear as the model profile that they're substituting for and should also be distinct from any other models in the army.

4) Thou Shalt Know The Scenario

Each round, players will see the scenario pool that will be used for all tables. The three doubles scenarios that will be used for this event are (in order):
  • Scenario 2 - Total Conquest
  • Scenario 1 - No Escape
  • Scenario 6 - Duel of Wits
Tournament points will be awarded to both players based on the number of Victory Points each side received:
  • Major Victory (6+ VPs and at least double your opponent's VPs): 10 TPs
  • Minor Victory (more VPs than your opponent but not more than 6 VPs and/or double your opponent's VPs): 8 TPs
  • Draw: 6 TPs
  • Minor Loss (opposing player received a Minor Victory): 4 TPs
  • Major Loss (opposing player received a Major Victory): 2 TPs
5) Thou Shalt Break Ties Properly

The player with the highest Tournament Point score will win the event. In the event of a tie, the player with the highest number of victory points scored by their teams over the event will win. Should there still be a tie, whoever submitted his/her list first will win.

6) Thou Shalt Face Different Opponents

This tournament will have one randomized pairing for the first round, followed by two rounds of randomly-paired players. After the first round, each member of the highest-ranked team will be paired with the players of the lowest-ranked team and matching will go from there (with the exact pairing being decided by the players or randomly with a die roll). As much as possible, the "rule of one" will be enforced so the same named character won't appear in both lists of a team. After the second round, players will be individually ranked and will be paired highest-with-lowest. If there are ties, as much as possible, the "rule of one" will be enforced.

7) Thou Shalt Not Take All Day

Each match will be 120 minutes. Time will be displayed visually for all games and will only be stopped in the event of a "red flag" being thrown. A red flag will be thrown when two players cannot agree on a rule (line of sight, special rules for a unit, etc.), in which case all fights will stop and the Tournament Director will mediate what the proper ruling is.

Should the time limit drop below 5 minutes remaining without the victory conditions being met, the current round will be played and then the game will end. Any player found intentionally stalling the game to make time run out will be awarded 0 Victory Points for the round. Between Round 1 and Round 2 will be a lunch break.

8) Thou Shalt Fight In Middle-Earth

Terrain for this event will be provided by the TMAT team - no players need to bring terrain for the event. All games will play on a standard MESBG board size (48" x 48") with a variety of available locales. The boards will have five objective markers available for the Total Conquest scenario.

9) Thou Shalt Be Gentlemen

Players must be courteous to their opponents and play these games in the spirit of good fun. Should a player conduct himself in a manner which destroys the fun atmosphere of the tournament, a red flag will be thrown and depending on the severity of the infraction, the player may be issued a warning against future infraction, forfeit the game, or be dismissed from the tournament.

10) Thou Shalt Not Be Late

All players must arrive by 9:30am in order to get preliminary check-in requirements, set up their armies at their tables, and fellowship with other players. All armies need to have a sheet of paper that provides their complete army list (with profiles), along with necessary unit-count information (total units in the army, how many units must be lost when the army is broken - and how many units the army must lose before it tests for Courage if the player is bringing certain Isengard armies - and how many units must be lost to be reduced to 25%). 

The tournament will follow this schedule:

10:00am - 12:00pm - ROUND 1 (Total Conquest)
12:00pm - 1:00pm - LUNCH (and painting competition)
1:00pm - 3:00pm - ROUND 2 (No Escape)
3:30pm - 5:30pm - ROUND 3 (Duel of Wits)
5:30pm - 6:30pm - Tear down 

During lunch, there will be a painting competition - each player may bring a single model that they've painted (it doesn't have to be in their army list) and all players present will vote for which model they think is the best painted. The player with the most votes will receive a prize (or split the votes if there's a tie).

Looking forward to see the armies that participate!

Tiberius, Tournament Director

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